Silencing amp noise with a Paper Clip?

[TelZilla]

This is from a ToneQuest Report interview with Peter Stroud, who plays for Sheryl Crow.

He's talking about how to eliminate RF noise in a 50W Marshall combo:

just take a paper clip and wrap it around the channel input jack of the amp behind the mounting nut so that it touches the faceplate. Then make sure the other end of the paper clip is touching the metal shielding sleeve on the jack that you plug into the amp

Anybody heard of this? Does it work?

[SamBooka]

it might work in a pinch.. if i understand correctly you are just making sure your jack is well grounded.

on older fender amps it never hurts to clean the oxides off the ground plate and components (pots and jacks) .. that is what it is there for.

[JohnnyCrash]

If you build/work on your own amps you can better ground the jacks from inside the chassis.

[SatelliteOrders]

I saw in Guitar Player where Paul Gilbert suggested running a cable from a 1/4" out on the amp to a 1/4" out on the soundboard for grounding.

[Geoff738]

Originally Posted by TelZilla

This is from a ToneQuest Report interview with Peter Stroud, who plays for Sheryl Crow.

He's talking about how to eliminate RF noise in a 50W Marshall combo:

just take a paper clip and wrap it around the channel input jack of the amp behind the mounting nut so that it touches the faceplate. Then make sure the other end of the paper clip is touching the metal shielding sleeve on the jack that you plug into the amp

Anybody heard of this? Does it work?

I dunno.

But I played a couple of his 65 amps that had definite RF issues.

Maybe they shoulda come with a paperclip?

Nice amps though, despite the rfi in that location.

Which reminds me I was going to start a thread on rfi - what causes it (well, yeah, radio waves) but I just lent a nice piece of gear to a friend a couple hundred yards away and he gets a radio station through it and I was fine.

So, what extent does a building's wiring have to do with it?

Ok, not meaning to hijack. If there's any interest, we can do a new thread on rfi.

I do recall there being a little tip on reducing the noise floor in Marshalls (don't recall the model nos) in the Tube amp book as well.

Cheers,
Geoff

[JohnnyCrash]

Originally Posted by Geoff738

I dunno.

But I played a couple of his 65 amps that had definite RF issues.

Maybe they shoulda come with a paperclip?

Nice amps though, despite the rfi in that location.

Which reminds me I was going to start a thread on rfi - what causes it (well, yeah, radio waves) but I just lent a nice piece of gear to a friend a couple hundred yards away and he gets a radio station through it and I was fine.

So, what extent does a building's wiring have to do with it?

Ok, not meaning to hijack. If there's any interest, we can do a new thread on rfi.

I do recall there being a little tip on reducing the noise floor in Marshalls (don't recall the model nos) in the Tube amp book as well.

Cheers,
Geoff

Poor grounding. Poor (or no) shielding. Bad lead dress. Noisey preamp tubes. Bad wall AC. Old filter caps. Heat. Bad grounding in the amp. Bum solders. A lot of things can add to a noisey amp. Depends on the noise (low frequency hum? high frequency hiss? ticking or crackling? etc).

Its not always RFI.

As far as picking up radio signals, there's a few things for that. First, the input grid resistors (68k in most Fenders and Marshalls, 10k in some new amps like the BJr) help keep the radio out. Second, is grounded shielding (many amps have a foil or mesh other metallic sheeting enclosing the metal chassis - some amps aren't shielded at all). If these items aint cutting it, ferrite beads on the input wiring migh help... there's other stuff too.